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The Aftermath 8/20/12

Roughly 1 hour & 20 minutes was all it took last Friday for the SotMK booster packs to sell out. As one of the lucky people to get my hands on the coveted merchandise I have to say the entire cast at the Emporium did a wonderful job in keeping the operation orderly and efficient. Just seconds after rope drop a horde of people stormed the Emporium, causing the line to stretch out of the door closest to the Firehouse. In an effort to avoid crowding within the Emporium, stanchions were setup just outside the door and guests were let in a few at time. Upon entering they were moved into a shorter line in front of the set of registers devoted to the sale of booster packs only. Disney made a very wise decision in keeping the merchandise at one register and behind the counter. As well as enforcing a purchase limit of 5 per guest. This resulted in a very smooth and pleasant experience for those who were able to purchase them.

There was plenty of joy and excitement in the air that day. Especially on the face of Imagineer Jonathan Ackley who was present during the release. He was very excited to see the amount of people who had shown up to purchase the cards. In addition to the long awaited booster release, guests were surprised to hear that the medium level had been activated for testing. The level will continue to be tested this week with the last day being Friday the 24th. Immediately after making their purchase most guests were tearing into the booster packs to see what lightning bolts they had acquired. Personally I had waited a while and observed as people made the mad dash to trade their duplicates in an effort to finally complete their set. When I had finally opened mine, I tweeted out what I had for trade and immediately received responses from people as to what they had to offer. I made my way to Tortuga and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of traders. This had turned out to be just as crazy as I expected.

With all this excitement there is bound to be disappointment. There were many who left empty-handed and angry. I personally witnessed a grown man have a full on temper tantrum when he was told they had ran out. Which to me was absolutely hilarious. There’s nothing I love more than seeing someone have a meltdown while they’re on Disney property. Let alone an adult man who lost it over a game that was designed for kids. One thing that didn’t surprise me is there was not a single person at least in my opinion, that balked at the price of $11.95 per pack. Let alone thought twice about purchasing the max amount. It’s clear to me that these fans are ready and able to spend. After last Friday Disney has to be fully aware that they have created a merchandise monster. With the upcoming release of pins this fall, the possibilities for more SotMK merch are endless.

As far when more booster packs are to become available I’ve heard rumors as early as Wednesday and as late as Friday, however nothing is confirmed. I will keep my eyes and ears open to do my best in keeping everyone informed via the blog and twitter. On a personal note I’d like to thank Steven Miller for doing a great job in keeping in contact with the community and answering our questions to the best of his abilities.

Finally I’d like to give a shout out to the SotMK Helpers Group over on Facebook. This group is filled with some amazing people who are truly making a difference in the SotMK fan community. I highly suggest you check them out!

4 thoughts on “The Aftermath 8/20/12”

It still boggles my mind with as much of an expert at making us part with our money as Disney is, that they were not ready for the popularity of SotMK and slow to adequately respond to demand for additional cards and merchandise.

Nice; Now since I have something most people don’t, “patience”. I will wait it out, till the super fanatics, [like the crying man as told in the story above] are not the regular kinds of people showing up, and seeing how this isn’t going to die down soon, there should not be any jeopardy of card production shortages. So I’ll give it a few months and wait till the card market is a bit flooded since I don’t “have to have it now” and I’m sure I’l be able to get a few bolts and trade for missing ones cards. I never managed to get a bolt card since it’s inception, but in the end I keep reminding myself that in general the game was free to start and in that time I manage to calmly (and enjoyably trade to) make 2 sets, (one for me and my loved one). So No mater how I look at it, it’s not a loss to me even if I can’t snag a single bolt card, now that I would have to be happily, paying for them. ^_^

Is it just me or is the “medium” in testing just Easy with having to play cards on two different screens instead of one? I mean no strategy needed. Hopefully Hard mode can come back and actually bring replay value…